Italy. 24 July 1848
Italy.
Milan, July 17. The provisional government is finally doing what should have been done long ago: it is removing from their posts the officials known for their bureaucratic tendencies and reactionary sentiments and replacing them with reliable persons. Those incompetent officials are being sent a letter at home informing them that, until further orders, they are no longer to appear in the offices; if they wished to know the reasons why, they need only ask; the provisional government stands ready to give them. Yet up to now none of the suspended or dismissed officials has desired any explanation.
* Rome, July 13. At yesterday’s sitting of the Chamber of Deputies, Minister Mamiani declared that the resignation he and his colleagues submitted some time ago had been neither accepted nor rejected. He added: “So long as we remain at our post, we shall, as hitherto, do our duty and see to it that not a day passes without our laying a bill before you. Whether as ministers or deputies, whether as public or private persons, we shall always hold fast to the public cause and contribute with all our strength to the triumph of liberty. Should we leave the ministry, we shall take our honour and our principles out with us unviolated.” Thunderous applause from the deputies as well as from the galleries follows these words, as though in reply to what the Pope said on receiving the reply address. – It was said in recent days that the deputy Farinisei had been entrusted with forming a new ministry; it is not known, however, whether he has taken on this difficult task. It has become even more difficult now, since the reply given by the Pope to the deputies’ reply address has increased the ill-feeling. The reactionary

Italy. 24 July 1848
party triumphs that the Pope so readily falls in with their plans. We here expect a blow or a coup d’état from one moment to the next. The liberal party is resolved to persevere on the path taken so far, cost what it may.
= Rome, July 12. That there can be no doubt as to the authenticity of the letter issued by Cardinal Soglia in the name of the Pope emerges very clearly from the Pope’s reply to the address of the Council of Deputies. This reply proves how the Pope stands in the most decided contradiction to the present ministry and the majority of the deputies, and how closely he is already entangled by the reactionary party. The address was presented to him on the 10th inst., and he replied as follows:
“We receive the expressions of gratitude which the Council (Consiglio, the Chamber of Deputies; but this name is already too revolutionary for clerical-official Rome) addresses to us, and the reply to the opening speech read in our name by the Cardinal expressly empowered for the purpose, with the declaration that we recognise them only in so far as they do not depart from the provisions of the Fundamental Statute. If the Pontiff prays, blesses and forgives, on the other hand he has the duty to loose and to bind. And if he, as Prince, in order better to safeguard and strengthen the public cause, calls the two Councils (Senate and Chamber of Deputies) to collaborate, he needs, as spiritual Prince, that liberty which leaves him unhindered in all the interests of religion and of the state. This liberty remains inviolate for him, so long as the Statute and the law on the Council of Ministers, which we have voluntarily granted, remain untouched.
If the great wishes for the greatness of the Italian nation are multiplying, it is necessary that the whole world learn anew that the means to attain them, on our side, cannot be war. Our name was blessed over the whole earth for the sake of the first words of peace that came from our lips. That would certainly not be the case, if those of war came from our lips. And great was our surprise when we saw the attention of the Council (the Second Chamber) directed to that subject in contradiction to our public declarations and at a moment when we have arranged negotiations for peace.
Unity among the princes and good harmony among the peoples of the peninsula alone can lead to the desired happiness. That concord requires that we must embrace the princes of Italy in equal manner, because from this paternal embrace that harmony can spring which leads to the fulfilment of the public wishes.”